“Oh?” Dumbledore turned his head, interested. “How did you know the bread was also problematic?”
“Firstly, Kiki said the bread they made was problematic,” Weilan calmly replied. “Secondly, a large number of House-elves with severe symptoms had gathered near the oven.”
“The culprit must have initially mixed the magic powder into the flour.”
Weilan tried to sort out the timeline: “However, at that time, the flour had no abnormalities, so the House-elves didn't notice.”
“It wasn't until the bread was baked that this magic powder began to reveal its unique properties.”
“It actively entices creatures to eat it, and not just in the bread. The magic powder that was mixed into the flour but hadn't yet been made into bread also began to exhibit the same properties… This is the strangest point.”
“This indicates that its change in properties wasn't due to the high temperature in the oven, but because of—time.”
“Just like an alarm clock rings at a specific time. This magic powder also develops the characteristic of luring creatures to consume it after reaching a specific time.”
“Perhaps the details of my deduction might be off, but the general direction is the time variable, that much won't be wrong.”
Dumbledore lightly clapped his hands, applauding Weilan: “A beautiful deduction. But I think we should first ask Madam Pomfrey about the physical condition of these House-elves.”
Madam Pomfrey squatted down, turning over the bodies of the House-elves one by one, shaking her head and sighing:
“They’re all beyond help. The potency of these things on House-elves is a hundred times stronger than on humans. The damage their bodies have sustained is also a hundred times that of humans.”
Weilan looked sadly at these House-elves who had once delivered food to him: “Is there no antidote?”
“No, this is a new substance that only appeared this year. The only palliative was formulated by Professor Snape during the summer—Professor Snape?”
Snape appeared at the kitchen entrance at some point. Hermione followed behind her, with Kiki in her arms, blinking her big eyes.
“Dumbledore, there’s a bad seed in Ravenclaw, you must immediately, right now, call Professor Flitwick over—”
Snape was almost furious.
Kiki's gaze swept over the lifeless bodies of her companions on the ground, and her brown eyes filled with painful tears.
She kept shaking her head, hitting herself with her large ears, leaving new marks on her face, and was finally forcibly restrained by Hermione.
“Kiki.” Dumbledore walked in front of her, using his tall body to block Snape's gloomy gaze.
Under his half-moon spectacles, his blue eyes emitted a strange, calming magic. “Don’t be afraid, tell me truthfully everything you heard and saw.”
Kiki's emotions stabilized a little:
“It’s like this, Mr. Dumbledore. Mr. Snape and Miss Granger asked Kiki if there were any suspicious people who came to the kitchen before the incident.”
“Kiki thought carefully and indeed remembered several gentlemen and ladies who arrived at school early and came to the kitchen seeking food.”
Weilan knew that some students habitually arrived at school early at the beginning of the new semester—many of them came from surrounding villages, or simply didn't want to take the Hogwarts Express.
But such students were rare.
“One of the ladies from Ravenclaw was very strange.”
Kiki swallowed her saliva and said cautiously:
“She came to us for food, but requested that the bread be specially treated with a ritual. We let her tinker for a while, and then she ate the bread… Kiki doesn’t know what else she did, only that she ultimately fled the kitchen in great panic.”
“Then do you remember any obvious external characteristics of this lady?”
Kiki tilted her head and thought for a moment: “Kiki remembers… she was very strange, wearing a long necklace of butterbeer bottle caps!”
Weilan's eyelids twitched, and he averted his gaze.
In Ravenclaw, no, or rather, in all of Hogwarts, only that crazy girl would walk around wearing a butterbeer bottle cap necklace.
Luna Lovegood.
“Dumbledore, you should arrest that Ravenclaw girl right now, getting involved with such things at such a young age…”
“Kiki would not lie to me. But this cannot confirm the girl's guilt. Professor Snape, not just the girl Kiki mentioned, all students who arrived early and visited the kitchen must be questioned.”
Dumbledore systematically assigned tasks:
“Hermione, please go to the Great Hall and invite the students who arrived early and visited the kitchen, then bring them all to the Principal’s office.”
“Kiki will be with Hermione, to ensure no students are missed.”
“Professor Snape and Madam Pomfrey will work together to try and revive any House-elves who still have breath—”
At this point, Dumbledore looked pointedly at Weilan:
“Weilan, you come with me to the office.”
“What about me?” Ron pointed a finger at his nose.
“Your task is the most important.” Dumbledore narrowed his blue eyes, looking up at the ceiling, “Professor Flitwick and Hagrid should still be free right now. Go find Professor Flitwick, explain the whole situation to him, and borrow ten thousand Galleons from him.”
“Then, take that money and go with Hagrid to Hogsmeade to get enough food, so that our hungry classmates don't go to bed hungry tonight.”
Ron muttered these instructions as he left. The others also began their tasks according to Dumbledore's instructions.
Weilan followed behind Dumbledore, walking in small steps towards the Principal’s office.
He knew that Dumbledore had already noticed something unusual about him, and he had no intention of continuing to hide these things from him.
Dumbledore's office, as described in the original work, was a circular room with walls covered in portraits of former Principals, and a desk with claw-footed legs in the center, on which many silver instruments were placed.
“An unfortunate evening. The Triwizard Tournament was about to begin, and today should have been a joyful day.”
Dumbledore sat behind the desk, letting out a long sigh.
“I’m sorry, Professor Dumbledore!”
Adhering to basic human principles, Weilan didn't ask what the Triwizard Tournament was, but instead directly apologized: “I concealed some very important matters.”
Dumbledore's silver-frosted eyebrows slightly arched, but he didn't look very surprised.
So Weilan continued:
“At the end of the Quidditch match, the reason I wasn't controlled by the Veela was because I was completely immune to her charm magic.”
“But at the time, I didn't understand why. I wanted to save Harry, but I didn't want to expose my special nature. So I thought of a plan that would achieve both—”
“I deceived Mr. Potter. I gave him a bottle of blood, falsely claiming it came from a Veela and that the blood's owner was immune to charm magic. But it was actually my own blood. I hoped that research on the blood could bring hope for curing Harry, and I also hoped to find out why I was immune to charm magic.”
“But after Mr. Potter gave you the blood, you said it wouldn't be of much help. My blood contains a powerful bloodline, and unless I personally intervene and use great power to save Harry, Harry still has no hope of recovery.”